Mid-Day Market Update: Nasdaq Rises 1%; HEXO Shares Plummet

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.39% to 35,029.73 while the NASDAQ rose 1.02% to 14,689.65. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.57% to 4,431.01.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 37,296,810 cases with around 625,180 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 32,358,820 cases and 433,580 deaths, while Brazil reported over 20,494,210 COVID-19 cases with 572,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 210,073,340 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,404,570 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose 1.3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pixelworks, Inc. PXLW, up 18% and VirnetX Holding Corp VHC up 13%.

In trading on Friday, energy fell 0.5%.

Top Headline

Deere & Company DE reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter on Friday.

Deere reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $5.32 per share, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $4.57 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $11.53 billion, versus estimates of $10.30 billion.

Deere raised its FY21 net income guidance from $5.3 billion -$5.7 billion to $5.7 billion -$5.9 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

GeoVax Labs, Inc. GOVX shares shot up 42% to $6.12 after the company presented data from ongoing studies of its preventive vaccine against COVID-19, showing its modified virus Ankara - virus like particle platform, has a design strategy for vaccines that is expected to induce broader immunity through inclusion of multiple structural and nonstructural proteins from the target pathogen.

Shares of Flora Growth Corp. FLGC got a boost, shooting 26% to $11.09 after the company reported its financial and operating results for the six months ending June 30, 2021, revealing revenues of over $2 million, compared to revenues of approximately $100 000 in the same period of last year.

360 DigiTech, Inc. QFIN shares were also up, gaining 14% to $19.32 after the company posted a rise in Q2 sales

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Sonnet BioTherapeutics Holdings, Inc. SONN shares tumbled 48% to $0.6321 after the company priced a 35.29 million share offering of common stock and warrants at $0.85 per unit.

Shares of HEXO Corp. HEXO were down 25% to $2.4017 after the company reported a $140 million public offering.

Progenity, Inc. PROG was down, falling 54% to $0.6800 after the company reported pricing of $40 million public offering of common stock and warrants.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.7% to $63.23, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,780.90.

Silver traded down 1.3% Friday to $22.93 while copper rose 1.8% to $4.1150.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.38%, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.38% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.17%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.45%, French CAC 40 rose 0.33% and Italy’s FTSE MIB slipped 0.04%.

German producer prices jumped 10.4% year-over-year in July following an 8.5% increase in the previous month. Retail sales volumes in the UK declined 2.5% in July, while the GfK consumer confidence index declined to -8 in August.

Economics

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here